Rethinking disney deluxe dining plan need advic

[angelabrezovsky]

After booking my vacation i never really look at how much the didning plan cost it is around $950 for the deluxe dining plan for myself and my 3 kids (5,7,9) for 5 nights! That is insane! I never thought it was that much. How much with doing around 7 ts will oop be. Will it be around the same amount?

 

[PictureJumpr]

Probably not.

Have you looked at the standard DDP, instead of the deluxe? It's about half the price, but not really a half on the food (more like a third less, 3 credits on Deluxe but 2 on Regular).

 

[Pikezh638]

You can look at menus here, http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningmain.cfm and do the math on it, but I think the deluxe plan would be way too much food for you and 3 kids. I would consider the quick service or the normal dining plan instead.

 

[partypa]

With kids under 10, I would downgrade to the regular DDP, it would run about $535 for the 4 of you for 5 nights and you will have plenty to eat
Check the Menu prices and whichever 2 TS are the least $, just pay out of pocket for those or eliminate 2 TS

 

[donnaf516]

We've done it a couple times in the past and I can say it is A LOT of food. Take a look at the regular plan, we do that now and just pay for a couple meals if we go over and still don't spend close to as much as the deluxe plan costs.

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

I would never pay for the deluxe dining plan to begin with. It is just too expensive. But it can be a bargain for kids under 10.

You get 3 meal credits and 2 snack credits a day. And all 3 of those credits can be used at table services places.

Unless you plan on eating at least 2 TS meals a day you will lose most of the plan value.

It is also a ton of food. An appetizer, entree and dessert for everyone at lunch and dinner. PLUS 2 snacks.

It's a crazy amount of food.

It sounds like you may come out cheaper paying OOP. Unless those 7 meals you have planned are character meals.

If you do decide to keep the deluxe dining plan you may have ton more credits then you will need so you could look into doing a few 2 credit meals and dinner shows like The Luau or Hoop Dee Doo or CRT.

 

[havoc315]

The dxdp used to be a great deal, when it was $70 for adults and around $20 for kids.

At current pricing, it is no longer a bargain.

On our last trip, we ate deluxe style, OOP. By going OOP, and never skimping on what we actually wanted, it was about 40% cheaper than the dxdp.

Over 6 days/ 5 nights, we ate 3 cs lunches, 3 TS lunches, and 5 TS dinners, including 3 signature meals. We ordered appetizers whenever we felt like it. Had more than enough desserts and snacks. And spent about $300 less than the dxdp. Spent about the same as the basic ddp, but got much much more than would be covered by the ddp.

 

[angelabrezovsky]

Yes I added it all up and it would be 646 without dining plan and 950 with dining plan. That's crazy!!! And I'm hoping to get free dining in November! Yay!

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

Yes I added it all up and it would be 646 without dining plan and 950 with dining plan. That's crazy!!! And I'm hoping to get free dining in November! Yay!

Well if you do get free dining and you are staying in a mod you will get the DDP. If you want to upgrade from the DDP to the deluxe it is only $45 per day per adult and something like $10 more a day per kid. Then it really is a good value.

But paying full price for it is never a good value.

 

[Jonathan Swift]

Well if you do get free dining and you are staying in a mod you will get the DDP. If you want to upgrade from the DDP to the deluxe it is only $45 per day per adult and something like $10 more a day per kid. Then it really is a good value.

But paying full price for it is never a good value.

That's assuming he/she can't get a bigger discount on the room vs. the dining plan, which may be true.

 

[angelabrezovsky]

I am staying at all star movies so it depends on how much it is to upgrade only to ddp not to deluxe. Is someone good at math to do it for me?

 

[aaarcher86]

I am staying at all star movies so it depends on how much it is to upgrade only to ddp not to deluxe. Is someone good at math to do it for me?

There is a thread with all specific upgrade costs at the top of this forum.

 

[joeswife1109]

My husband was so gung-ho that we had to have the Deluxe plan for us. It's him, myself, DS12 and DD 2 1/2. I said that it was wayyyy too much food. Even my TA said don't do it! Then we saw the price and realized UM NO! Not happening. Once we planned out our days and our meals he was happy to see that we would fine on the regular dining plan.

 

[WDWFreaks]

My husband was so gung-ho that we had to have the Deluxe plan for us. It's him, myself, DS12 and DD 2 1/2. I said that it was wayyyy too much food. Even my TA said don't do it! Then we saw the price and realized UM NO! Not happening. Once we planned out our days and our meals he was happy to see that we would fine on the regular dining plan.

You made the right choice. Unless you are doing a 2 credit sig meal every single day, plus another table service, the DDDP is a huge waste of time and money. It's not even worth it during free dining promos. Disney is making a killing on the plan.

 

[aaarcher86]

You made the right choice. Unless you are doing a 2 credit sig meal every single day, plus another table service, the DDDP is a huge waste of time and money. It's not even worth it during free dining promos. Disney is making a killing on the plan.

Eh, I wouldn't go that far with it. It can be a good value in other situations. There's about a $50 difference between the DXDP and OOP for us at full price - we do a TS character breakfast, QS lunch, and TS dinner (sometimes character sometimes not)... so no signatures at all. The time? I just ate breakfast for an hour and met 3 - 4 characters in an air conditioned building - now I don't have to wait in line for them at the park. That's a win for me.

During FD or even SPD we obviously end up saving quite a bit of money since we are nearly break even at full price. There's too many variables to offer up blanket statements, although I do think the DXDP is hard to get a value out of in general.

 

[Masonmj84]

The dxdp used to be a great deal, when it was $70 for adults and around $20 for kids.

At current pricing, it is no longer a bargain.

On our last trip, we ate deluxe style, OOP. By going OOP, and never skimping on what we actually wanted, it was about 40% cheaper than the dxdp.

Over 6 days/ 5 nights, we ate 3 cs lunches, 3 TS lunches, and 5 TS dinners, including 3 signature meals. We ordered appetizers whenever we felt like it. Had more than enough desserts and snacks. And spent about $300 less than the dxdp. Spent about the same as the basic ddp, but got much much more than would be covered by the ddp.

This is what we're doing on our next trip (OOP with TIW). Disney got us hooked on the DxDP style of eating when we got free dining and upgraded to DxDP.

But the recent price increases combined with our son turning 10 has made the DxDP a bad deal for us. I can't see us ever using it again.

 

[dayzee1983]

Hello there! I was in the same boat! Originally the DH and I planned on a dining plan and decided against it. we are staying at CSR and when we heard news that FD would be a possibility for our date we crossed our fingers. Sure enough, deals came available for our dates.... We priced the dining and the room discounts and we were obviously much better off with choosing FD, I got
So excited I upgraded to DxD. We used to be premium pass holders at DLR in CA and its normal for us to do 2 TS meals in a day (as its just us two), but we are also used to getting a 15-20% discount with our premium pass.... Us now going to WDW we won't have that luxury so I totally bought into this upgrading of DxD. I almost wish there was something in between the packages like 2 qs as 1 TS meal. I'm just trying to figure out if we will really use the extra $640 for the added meal and for it to be all table service...... Baaaaaah! My other option would be to upgrade to business class at CSR and have continental breakfast included and snacks and drinks in the evening offered, which would be about $300 more instead.... HELP! Someone guide me.... We are HUGE eaters, just like to enjoy nice restaurants and good service while eating....

 

[Nixie]

This is what the hubby and I did to make the deluxe dining plan work for us:

We used the two snack credits for breakfast.

We had a TS lunch ( one credit) in whatever park we where in for the day.

We had a late signature dinner every night.


Some days we flipped it by having a TS breakfast, snacks for lunch, and signature dinner.

We used some leftover snack credits to get candies from around the world in Epcot to being home to our kiddos for fun.

 

[washleylewis]

We enjoy the Deluxe dining as it gives a lot more freedom plus the snacks as well! We tend to eat a lighter breakfast like you guys...

 

[dayzee1983]

This is what the hubby and I did to make the deluxe dining plan work for us:

We used the two snack credits for breakfast.

We had a TS lunch ( one credit) in whatever park we where in for the day.

We had a late signature dinner every night.

Some days we flipped it by having a TS breakfast, snacks for lunch, and signature dinner.

We used some leftover snack credits to get candies from around the world in Epcot to being home to our kiddos for fun.

Thanks so much, your idea sounds great! That's part of making the trip so much more enjoyable is when good dinners are included!